


Spit N Polish

by InactiveAccount_nipan



Series: Caustic X Reader [1]
Category: Apex Legends (Video Games)
Genre: Awkwardness, Crushes, F/M, First Kiss, Fluff, Kissing, Mornings, Nail Polish
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-24
Updated: 2019-12-24
Packaged: 2021-02-25 23:41:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,509
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21783850
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/InactiveAccount_nipan/pseuds/InactiveAccount_nipan
Summary: Reader convinces Caustic to let her paint his nails
Relationships: Caustic | Alexander Nox/Reader
Series: Caustic X Reader [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1569883
Comments: 3
Kudos: 38





	Spit N Polish

**Author's Note:**

  * For [soulheartthewolf](https://archiveofourown.org/users/soulheartthewolf/gifts).



> Reader is female. I wrote this fic (and whole series) for one of my best friends Wolfy.
> 
> I hope you enjoy and have a good HOLODAY wolfy!! :P <<<<3

It’d been a restless night of tossing and turning that led you to finally giving up and getting out of bed. You threw on a pair of track pants and an overly large sweater before opening the door and stepping out in the silent hall. It was early, too early for any of the other legends to be up and about the halls. Perhaps some of them  _ were  _ up but remained locked away in the comfort of their respective rooms. Bloodhound was one you guessed would be up early even if you never had any sort of actual confirmation due to them spending most of their time within their room.

Padding down the hall in your pajamas you were mindful not to wake anyone as you moved through the halls in the direction of the shared common room that joined into a large kitchen.

You skipped a little across the tile over to the cupboard, grabbing two pieces of bread to throw into the toaster before moving over to start a brew of coffee. After a moment you decided to make an extra large batch in case any of the other legends happened to get up. 

Humming as you waited for the coffee to finish brewing, you reached up and removed the ponytail encircling your wrist before placing it between your teeth, hands pulling your hair back before using the hairband to secure it back and out of your face.

The toaster chimed softly as you grabbed a plate and deposited the toaster onto it, grabbing an Oshew nut spread from the cabinet and a glass of Ceku from the fridge.

Arms full of your breakfast you headed for the door that led back into the common room, nearly bumping into someone on your way out.

“Sorry!” You yelped, jumping a little in surprise as the other legend merely grunted a response.

Looking up you felt your heart do a little skip upon realizing who it was:

Caustic.

“I wasn’t paying attention, sorry for almost like, knocking you over!” You babbled rapidly, cheeks faintly pink in your embarrassment as your eyes wandered over the outfit the scientist was wearing. It was white and black, looked pretty similar to his Sixth Sense skin, but it definitely wasn’t one you had seen before. Realizing what you were doing your gaze quickly snapped back up to Caustic’s, the older legend eyeing you for a moment before speaking.

“I do not think you could knock me over even if you wished to,” he stated in a rather matter-of-fact tone.

You laughed nervously, shrugging one shoulder as the taller legend moved around you and into the kitchen. You stood in place for several moments before speaking up again, the scientist not even sparing you a glance as he headed straight for the leftover coffee.

“Is that a new outfit? Looks familiar but I swear I’ve never seen it before!” You moved away from the door now, placing your food and juice on the counter before taking a bite, watching the other legend curiously.

“Yes,” Caustic answered, response simple and not leaving much room for you to continue the conversation. Not that that ever stopped you. You fell second only to Elliott when it came to “talking too much”.

“Hey well I think it looks really good on you!” The words were out before you could really consider what you were saying, a flush creeping up your face as the scientist turned towards you now, mug in hand coffee in the other.

Caustic looked at you intently now, green eyes studying you for several moments before he merely dipped his head in acknowledgement, “I thank you.”

Relieved that you hadn’t somehow offended the older contestant, you offered him a grin before jumping up to seat yourself on the counter, legs swinging as you watched the taller legend pour himself a cup of the coffee you’d made.

“Know what would make it better?”

Caustic was still for several moments, back to you before he half-turned to direct you with an odd look. “What?”

The question caught you off guard as you had been half-expecting the more seasoned contestant to brush you off and leave the room like some of the other legends usually did when you got into one of your talkative moods. Instead Caustic fully turned around to lean back against the counter, regarding you with what seemed to be amusement.

“What what?” You questioned, swallowing hard as you tried to keep eye contact with him.

“What would make it better?”

“Oh!” You nodded, quickly swallowing down another mouthful of ceku before responding. “It’d look really cool if you like, painted your nails. Black, to like match everything else y’know?” Caustic raised a brow, mug in hand as he looked at you, silence falling as you stumbled over your words. “Of course it was just an idea, a really silly one obviously! I just thought it’d look pretty cool but I was probably just kidding!” You laughed nervously, kicking yourself for saying anything at all. Why was it that every time you were in the room with the older legend that you found it so hard to say what you wanted to say, much less form words?? “But you know if you ever wanted something like that I wouldn’t mind helping you so you know you don’t-”

“Very well,” Caustic cut you off before you could embarrass yourself any further, relief flooding you when you realized he didn’t seem particularly annoyed with your rambling- his words sank in and you found yourself staring at him in surprise.

“R-really?”

The scientist huffed as he grabbed a chair and pulled it up to the little table nearby, an expectant look on his face as you gawked.

“I-I mean yeah! One sec just let me run and grab some stuff!” You moved for the door before peaking your head back around the corner, pointing a finger at the silent man. “Don’t go anywhere.”

With that last sentence you took off down the hall for your own personal quarters, not as careful about keeping quiet as you had been earlier. Once in your room, it only took you a couple minutes to collect the necessary supplies before you were racing back down the hall for the kitchen. You half expected Caustic to have taken the chance with your absence to go back to his lab so you were genuinely surprised to find him still sitting in the kitchen nursing his coffee with an amused expression on his face.

You offered the bigger legend a little grin as you pulled the only other chair in the room over to his left-hand side, seating yourself there before depositing the supplies you collected on the table between you.

“Could you, uh, roll up the sleeve a bit?” You questioned, feeling suddenly self-conscious. “I don’t wanna get this stuff on it cuz it’ll, y’know. Stain.”

Caustic silently complied as you set down a scrap of white cloth in front of him, unscrewing the bottle of polish as the scientist pulled his sleeve up to his elbow. You felt yourself relaxing a little as you set everything up: an extra scrap of cloth to wipe off any excess polish to keep it from staining the skin around the nail, a small bottle of cleanser to help fix any mistakes, and a second, smaller bottle of clear polish meant to help reinforce the colour and keep it from easily chipping away.

“Ok so, uh, just put your hand here,” you pointed to the cloth before the scientist as you snatched up the first polish you wanted to use. You’d been  _ really _ tempted to grab the oilslick colour, because it had a really cool hue whenever the light struck it a certain way but you’d told the older contestant that you were going to paint his nails black and you didn’t want to do anything that might make him change his mind.

Caustic silently laid his hand out on the cloth for you, watching curiously as you spread his fingers apart a little before unscrewing the cap and wiping the excess off the brush. Bending over a little so you could make certain not to mess up too much, you began to paint the scientist’s fingers, paying special attention to keep from getting polish on his skin. Your hand shook a little and you chewed your lip hoping he wouldn’t notice, heart beating so loud in your ears you were certain he could hear it.

Finishing the first nail without any mess had you releasing the breath you hadn’t realized you’d been holding, moving onto the next nail while trying to keep up your precision with the first. It took a little longer than you expected, but eventually you finished up with his thumb, grabbing the extra cloth and spilling a bit of remover onto it to clean up around the edge where some of the polish had gotten on the skin.

“Okay that’s one!” You finally announced, a hint of giddy pride in your voice as you pulled back to set the cloth and remover aside and grab up the bottle again. “Just switch out your hands and we’ll be done in no time!”

Caustic hummed in acknowledgement before switching out his hands. “You are quite proficient at this,” the older legend suddenly spoke up, causing you to jump slightly.

“O-oh yeah, I, uh, I like to paint my own nails. It’s actually easier to do it on someone else!” You stammered out as you turned back around, avoiding eye-contact as your face heated at his praise.

“Do you paint others’ nails often?” Caustic questioned, seeming to suddenly be interested in some form of conversation as you tried to focus on your task and not how wonderfully deep his voice was.

“Um, no,” you answered with a nervous laugh. “You’re the first one.”

The scientist hummed softly as he reached up to scratch his beard  _ with the hand you had just finished! _ “Ah don’t do that!” You cried, grabbing his wrist before you realized it. You froze up as he looked at you with what seemed to be confusion.

Swallowing you licked your lips as you tried to find your voice and not lose yourself in those gorgeous green eyes. “Th-the paints still wet,” you stammered out, face flushing brightly that there was no way he didn’t notice, “you got some on your face,” you added with a little laugh as you finally let go of his wrist and reached over to grab the extra cloth you had. “It’s not hard to get off.” You murmured as you scooted your chair a little closer and reached up with the cloth to rub at the little smear of black on his cheek, the older legend watching silently though you could’ve sworn the corner of his lip upturned in a little smile.

Cheeks aflame at the closeness you rubbed at the polish smeared on the scientist’s cheek until you got it off. Well, at least as much of it as you could.

Setting aside the cloth you reached for the polish again. “Let me just fix where you smudged and-” you were cut off by the feeling of a large, calloused hand tilting your chin so you were looking up at the scientist.

You were silent, cheeks pink and eyes wide as the scientist leaned closer so your lips brushed his. You absently thought how his beard was ticklish against your skin, but then all thought left you when his lips closed over your own, your eyes sliding shut as you leaned in closer, a hesitant hand finding the crook of his neck while his own hands cupped your face and tangled in your hair.

It was gentle, sweet and suddenly nothing else mattered but the man before you. He smelled like coffee and antiseptic, his lips soft against your own. 

He pulled back and you wished it hadn’t ended, but then your eyes locked again, and you read the need and affection in them, saw the faint dusting of pink in his cheeks. He looked almost…  _ shy _ .

You felt a smile spreading across your face as you looked up at him, a warm, comfortable silence falling between you.

“I didn’t…” You paused, unsure of what to say. “I didn’t think you liked me.”

Caustic’s brow’s furrowed slightly as you looked away, that gentle hand cupping the side of your face as he guided you back to him, a soft kiss placed to your lips in response. And it was enough. You understood, and you felt your heart flutter in excitement, one hand grabbing at his shirt to pull him closer as the kiss deepened. Your fingers found his hair as he pulled you into his lap, hands firm but gentle as he kissed you as if this was the only chance he had.

“Really???” A voice suddenly sounded from behind you, causing you to jump though Caustic only chuckled into the curve of your throat, lips pressing a kiss to the warm skin there as you twisted your head around to look behind you, face a deep shade of red.

Elliott stood there with a look of disbelief written across his face, Anita Williams shaking her head as she turned to leave the room again. 

“When did you two become a thing??” The trickster questioned, Octavio smirking at you from over his shoulder.

“Uh, well,” you found yourself at a loss for words before Renee appeared in the doorway, hand out towards Elliott, palm up,

“You owe me 100 apex coins, Mr Perfect.”

Elliott scowled at the phase shifter before giving you a good natured wink.

“Wait, wait you guys… You guys had a bet??” You questioned, even more embarrassed if that was even a possibility at this point. Caustic seemed unbothered, chin resting on your shoulder as he watched the scene before him unfold with some sense of amusement.

“Yeah we could all see the way you looked at Alexander,  _ amiga, _ ” Octavio chimed in now as Elliott handed Renee her prize.

“Not to mention the way he looked at  _ you _ ,” Wraith added, Elliott frowning at her,

“I never noticed any change in him!” 

Renee smiled up at the trickster, patting his shoulder. “Which is why you lost,” she answered with mock-sympathy before motioning for them to leave. “Now let’s get out of here and let them have their moment.”

The three left with no lack of grumbling from Mirage, a sudden silence falling as you cleared your throat in embarrassment, finally turning to look back at Caustic. He was watching you with a warmth in his gaze you rarely saw, and it made the butterflies in your core soar happily.

“Tonight, after the games,” Caustic broke the silence, voice low and soft. “I would like to take you out somewhere special, if you would allow me.”

You smiled brightly, the happiness you were feeling no doubt clear in your expression and words as you placed a chaste kiss to his lips. “I would love that.”


End file.
